Protective helmets to minimize head injuries have been known and used for many years in which the addition of a face mask attached to the helmet provides protection to the face of the wearer. Football helmets are usually equipped over the exposed face area with a vinyl coated wire or other metal structure, or an injection molded plastic face mask. Protective helmets usually include a chin guard assembly to retain the helmet on the head of the wearer. Chin guards are frequently constructed using a molded plastic cup made of compression or injection-molded plastic material and preferably, a pad is bonded or otherwise attached to the plastic cup. Non-padded chin guard assemblies do not offer any impact protection to the chin area and only serve to secure the helmet to the player's head. Most molded plastic chin cups currently in use are molded in a manner which allows the formed cup to flex upon impact. An improved construction of a chin cup is one in which a rigid material is used that does not flex on impact to an undesirable degree, thus distributing the impact force over a larger area of the chin.
One of the problems with existing chin guard assemblies is the relationship between the strap and the chin guard. Certain chin guards have adjustable straps in which the position of the strap relative to the chin guard can be directly adjusted at the chin guard. However, during the strong impacts of football play, the chin guard can slip and move relative to the strap. As a result, the chin guard assembly will be in an undesirable and unsafe location. As such, a need exists to provide a chin guard assembly in which the strap is positioned in a fixed relationship relative to chin guard.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a chin guard assembly in which the straps are fixedly connected thereto and are non-adjustable with respect to the chin guard. It is another object of the present invention to provide a chin guard assembly in which the outer surface of the straps are flush with the outer surface of the shell of the chin guard. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a chin guard assembly which avoids dislocations of the chin guard during use.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims and appended claims.